Right-hander Max Kranick has cleared waivers and been outrighted off the Mets’ 40-man roster. Kranick was designated for assignment earlier this week, and he’ll now report to Triple-A Syracuse.
New York claimed Kranick off waivers from the Pirates in January, and he started his Mets tenure on the 15-day injured list due to a hamstring strain. He was officially activated on April 23 and then optioned to Triple-A, and Kranick has a 2.57 ERA in two starts and seven innings already in Syracuse. Kranick still has a minor league option remaining so the Mets can freely move him back and forth between the majors and minors, though he’ll first have to be placed back on the 40-man roster before his next call back to the Show.
An 11th-round pick for the Pirates in the 2016 draft, Kranick made his Major League debut in 2021 and had a 6.28 ERA over 38 2/3 innings. He only threw five big league innings in 2022 before his career was put on hold by Tommy John surgery in June of that year, and he made it back to toss 20 2/3 minor league frames in Pittsburgh’s farm system near the end of last season.
The long layoff resulted in Kranick receiving a fourth minor league option year, as the league often grants the extra option year to players who have missed an extended amount of time due to injury. The Mets can therefore send Kranick back and forth between the majors and minors, though they’ll first have to carve out a 40-man roster space before bringing him back to the active roster. Kranick has a 3.63 ERA over 84 1/3 career Triple-A innings, and he’ll continue to build his arm strength back up and serve as a rotation depth option should injuries arise in New York’s rotation.
Seems a little odd someone hasn’t made him their 9th starter on the depth chart—but teams probably look at his extremely modest K rate and figure they might as well limit the damage to one inning at a time with Max as #14 on their bullpen’s depth chart.